It is common to use powered surgical cutting devices during surgical procedures. Generally, these devices have a handle. An electric or pneumatic motor is contained within the handle. The motor drives, in a cyclical fashion, a driver. One end of a surgical blade is releasably coupled to the driver. The other end of the blade includes a cutting edge with a plurality of teeth. The surgical blade may be of various shapes, e.g., for crescentic or straight and, typically, may be mounted to the driver in various positions. Commonly, the surgical blades are interchangeable and disposable.
Generally, a clamping structure is used to releasably couple the blade to the driver. When force is applied to the cutting edge of the surgical blade the force is transferred to the opposite end of the blade. This may have the effect of compromising the clamping structure, resulting in an unintentional release or slippage of the saw blade.
One device aimed at overcoming this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,658,304 issued Aug. 19, 1997 to Joepert Lim (the '304 patent). The device disclosed in the Lim patent includes a cutting element with two flanges and a handpiece with a base surface and a groove adjacent the base surface. When coupled together, one of the flanges engages the base surface and the other flange engages the groove. However, the addition of a second flange to the saw blade, increases the complexity of the saw blade and thus the cost of the saw blade.
The present invention is aimed at one or more of the problems as set forth above.